SPRINGWATCH

For some time now there has been on BBC television in England, a series on wildlife, specifically, about bird life in the south west and south east of England. With one short series in the spring called “Springwatch” and another in the autumn, called unsurprisingly, “Autumnwatch” The series has been running for quite some time. Various species of birds and wildlife are observed over a period of some weeks by permanently fixed TV cameras operated by remote control. The birds quickly get used to the cameras as they perceive no threat from them. The BBC team of expert observers then put all the footage together and present it as a programme. The programmes are compulsive viewing and must attract some of the biggest viewing audiences of any television programme.

The sheer expertise of the presenters, their knowledge and their enthusiasm for the subject is a credit to the BBC. The presenters follow the lives of various birds. How they pair off, build nests, then you see the young birds appearing and watch with deep interest how they are looked after by the parents. Protected, nurtured, fed and then carefully trained and developed to take their place as adult birds. It is also delightful to see how the parents work closely together. There was a tragedy within one family. The female, the hen bird, went missing and had probably become the victim of a predator of some kind. The male waited, looked around, then finally had to do something for the young. Normally he would bring food to the female who would feed the young chicks. But she wasn’t there, the male rose to the task and he then fed them, looked after them and brought them up to be independent.

In this world there would obviously be accidents, or there might be predators around, whether animal or human makes no difference to the intent, and, as a result, a member of a family, again whether animal or human, might not be around quite unexpectedly. For such an event as just mentioned there was provision, the risk had been foreseen, assessed and provision made to cope with it for the benefit of the family.

We thoroughly enjoyed one action of the female swan. Out on the water with her mate and brood of cygnets when the time came to go home she, not the male, would get in front of the brood and open up her wings. This was the signal for the cygnets to swim up to where the wings were opened halfway towards the rear of her body. Then, one by one, they clambered up each side of her tail feathers and went aboard. When all the cygnets were onboard, she closed her wings around them and swam back to the family nest. One thing I could liken it to would be a tank landing craft retrieving the tanks!

In these letters I have once or twice referred to the family of Canada Geese which came each spring to a pond near where we were living at the time. The original pair had obviously selected this particular pond as it had a small island in the middle which was covered with rushes. Obviously travelling together how did they come to see the pond? And note that it had an island. They would have needed to communicate with each other as to whether or not they were both agreed on this being a good spot to raise a family. Then when the chicks appeared, we saw the way those parents protected the young and prepared them for an independent life. Equipping them with all the knowledge and experience they would need.

The cameras also brought out so clearly what a great and wonderful variety of birds there are. Each type of bird having the same colours and a common design and pattern of colours across the feathers. The female generally speaking not having the same display of colours. The male needing the colours and pattern more in order for easy recognition. But at the same time the design is consistent. A design on one wing is repeated in a mirror fashion on the other wing! Why? Frankly, because it looks better! Sometimes the pattern on the wings is continued along the sides of the body. And, further, it would seem that temperature and habitat, whether in the tropics or not, has no bearing on this. For example, the design and colouring of the Jay and also of the Woodpecker is quite remarkable.

Then there are different sizes and different designs of bird. Why aren’t birds all the same shape? They share the same habitat. They eat much the same sort and type of food. It is reasonable to assume that they would all be the same. However, the Kingfisher and the Seagull catch fish in the water, but the birds are quite different from each other. The Kingfisher is amazing in the way it catches fish. From quite a height it will spot a fish in the water, if it judges it to be acceptable the bird will dive straight down through the air just like an arrow which has been fired. Then, exactly at the moment it enters the water it makes sure its beak is closed, stretches its head and neck so that it enters the water smoothly and exactly at the right point. Fish can move suddenly and unpredictably, but the Kingfisher rarely misses! Then why is it that the bird has the beautiful colouring and design of feathers that it does. It doesn’t need this in order to catch fish! The BBC programme made a point as well of design! Also there are a number of different designs of beaks. They are designed to make it easier to catch and eat particular foods, different types of seed or various kinds of worm, beetle, bug, etc. This nicely spreads the availability of food around so that no one bird monopolises one particular food. Isn’t evolution wonderful! However did it think of all these things!

So how is it then, as we consider these things, that a mindless evolution brought about all this great variety of bird. All subject to the same gravity, the same climatic conditions, similar threats, similar advantages and yet such a tremendous variety. You will undoubtedly have noticed that many birds in Britain will migrate in late Autumn. We are familiar with the swallows gathering together in their hundreds on some convenient location such as telephone wires and then all flying off together in large groups. One of the national newspapers today had a full page article about one of the birds that emigrate – this is the nightingale. We probably don’t think of them emigrating, but they do. The report is of a team of British ornithologists who were able to fit a location device to a male nightingale. This revealed that the bird flew 3,000 miles to Senegal deep down on the bulge of West Africa leaving Senegal in February this year of 2010 and arriving back in England in mid May.

Why do birds emigrate from northern climes and head south as autumn arrives and winter draws near. There is one very good reason. There won’t be enough food in the British Isles during the winter months. Many species of bird therefore are programmed to fly south and return when the British winter has passed. A few birds do not migrate, among these are the sparrows and the robins. They tend to find food around human beings and therefore are not programmed to emigrate. There is no way that evolution, and especially an unintelligent evolution, could possibly pick out which species should emigrate and where to go and how to get there. The only answer which makes sense is that they have been programmed to do this.

We, my wife and I have been most grateful to the BBC for the making of the Springwatch series and we are very much looking forward to Autumnwatch to appear later in the year. Whenever these series are on television the comment “there’s nothing to watch on TV” becomes redundant. Just like evolution! A redundant, discredited theory! You could well say that it is a theory for the birds!

Why have I taken so much space and time to talk about a BBC television series. For one reason. To show how illogical it is to believe in a blind, mindless, evolution when faced with the existence of the world of birds. What could have possibly caused the first bird to come into existence in the first place? The Russian scientist Oparin, as I have mentioned on previous occasions, hazarded the guess, which is what it was, that lightning struck a puddle of water with various chemicals in it forming a kind of soup! This lightning strike, we are told, brought the first life into existence! If you believe that then you are naive in the extreme. Professor Oparin could not answer the question as to where the lightning or the chemicals came from and by what process did the lightning strike the chemicals and cause life to appear. And then become the highly complex system we have today! It doesn’t matter how many millions of years you want to attribute to it, it is totally impossible.

The very existence of so many types, designs, colours of birds with the incredible abilities they have poses questions no evolutionist can answer and will simply come out with the stock answer “given enough time!” Time is irrelevant. One of the examples I gave was that of the nightingale, how with the ending of summer in Britain it will fly 3,000 miles south to winter and then return in the spring. Wouldn’t it have been simpler for it to merely adapt to the British winter? Other birds stay around why not the nightingale! I gave the reason earlier – it’s a matter of an adequate food supply. Some birds are programmed to migrate in order that the reduced food supply may be sufficient for those that remain. And that evolved? The very existence of birds and everything about them points unerringly to a creator! To God, one who says He is our Father and that the stars and planets, the earth itself with the wonderful life support systems were created for a purpose.

The bible says to us in Isaiah 45:18 “For thus says the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he has established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else.” In Romans 1:20 we read that the very existence of the creation reveals the one who caused it so that we are without excuse. If we disregard what is clearly before us the bible does not mince words. It says that “professing ourselves to be wise, we become fools!” Where do you stand!
John Jewell